Orrin Jackson Merrill

Orrin Jackson Merrill

Orrin Jackson Merrill

Samuel Merrill, the father of Orrin Jackson Merrill was born in Smithfield, New York January 9, 1812. This was about the time that the United States was having trouble with the British over impressments and several other things.

After Samuel grew up, he met a woman from New Jersey who later became his wife. Samuel had a brother living in Michigan who had become interested in the gospel and had joined the church. He wrote to Samuel who was living in New York and told him of the wonderful religion which was established by Joseph Smith and was known as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Samuel was very much interested in this new religion, and decided to learn more about it. He had heard that there were some Mormon Elders in a neighboring town who were preaching this gospel to the people. He decided to go and learn what he could about the gospel. While he was crossing in open prairie on his way to where the Elders were, he met a man who was traveling on foot.

The man was dressed in the purest white from head to foot and his skin was so pure white as to appear almost transparent. The man was very cheerful and in passing, Samuel turned to look back at him, but there was no man there. As there was no place nearby where he could have hidden, Samuel was puzzled to know what had happened to him. After Mr. Merrill joined the church and studied the Book of Mormon, he decided that the man was one of the three Nephites.

After Samuel and his wife joined the church they moved to Nauvoo where the main body of the church was. While they were living in Nauvoo, the prophet and his brother were killed, leaving the people as a flock without a shepherd. After much controversy, it was decided that the apostles should take the responsibility of the church and Brigham Young was chosen as their active leader.

Brigham Young directed the people across the plains to the country in the west known as the great Salt Lake Basin. Mr. Merrill was in fairly good circumstances and crossed the plains without undue hardships and settled at Mill Creek, Utah.

On June 22, 1855, Orrin Jackson was born at Mill Creek. Mill Creek is situated about seven miles south of Salt Lake City. Samuel and his family were close to other members of the church and the people were very neighborly and kind. In 1859 the Merrill family moved to Smithfield, Utah. As they were leaving Mill Creek, a woman came out and stopped them and gave them a drink of buttermilk.

They arrived in Smithfield in the spring of 1860 and began at once to construct dugouts which they lived in the next summer. The dugouts were made by digging a hole in the ground, preferably on a side hill, covering it with timber, then applying a thick layer of clay for a roof. The dugouts also had dirt floors, and one door and very often no windows. The men built small log houses for the winter usually two room affairs with dirt roofs. They would also fill the cracks in the walls with clay. Some of the better houses were made of logs made flat on one side but most of them were made of round logs.

The following winter the Indians were very bad. The saints organized a company of men known as the “minutemen.” The men in this company were ready at all times to defend the people against the marauding bands of Indians. They were required to keep a horse and saddle near at hand for instant use. At Smithfield a guard was established which guarded the town every night, but still the Indians continued their attacks.

One night an Indian stole one of the pioneer’s horses, so the Indian was put in one of the log huts and a guard was set to watch him. So the pioneers and Indians passed the winter continually fighting back and forth. As the warm weather set in, the pioneers began open air meetings and dances. These boweries consisted of a circle of upright poles and small circles within the outside one. Then, they laid poles across the top of the uprights and covered them with brush and pine boughs. This really made a good shade for them.

The people danced on May Day and on the 4th of July and when they danced, they danced. The dances commenced early in the afternoon and continued until about five o’clock at which time the people went home to do their chores and have their supper. The dace recommenced at seven and continued until about midnight, at which time the people would have a lunch which they brought with them, then the dance continued until daylight Gentiles were usually permitted to come to the dances, but if they became unruly, they were immediately thrown out.

On the 23rd of July, a band of Indians rode into town to get their imprisoned comrade. The people would not let him go, so the Indians began shooting around the town. The guard running to stop the Indians gave the prisoner a chance to escape, but the Indian was shot and killed while running from his prison. This angered the Indians greatly and they killed one of the whites, and shot at another. They were finally driven from the town. These Indians started across the country for Franklin. They met two Merrill boys who were going to Smithfield. They killed one and wounded the other severely. You may be assured that there was no celebration on the 24th of July in Smithfield.

When the first alarm was given the women and children ran to a completed log building which was used as a fort. Orrin was playing across the canal which was in front of his father’s dugout. His father and mother were not there. This frightened him very much and when he finally gained courage enough to look out and see what he had stumbled over, he found it to be a dead Indian. This frightened him still worse. He kept quiet still until the trouble was over and his parents returned.

About this time the grasshoppers began coming in great hordes so fast that at times the sun was almost black with them. They were ravenous and devoured all of the green things that they came upon. The grasshoppers soon finished the already poor crops of the settlers. By dragging long ropes over the small patches of grain they managed to save enough to survive through the winter and have some little seeds to plant the next season. By the time the crops of the next season began to grow, millions of grasshoppers began to come out of the ground. They were from the hatched eggs of the last year’s hordes. Ditches were dug and the grasshoppers were driven into them where they were burned by the thousands. In this way many of the filed were saved. During the spring and summer the people had to exist on greens, sago roots, and other herbs that they were able to obtain.

One day a messenger came into town at a rapid pace on a very fatigued horse; news from Franklin that a woman had been knocked over and trodden on by a drunken Indian on a horse. Ben Chadwick had shot the Indian. The Indians became riled, minutemen assembled at Franklin as soon as possible. What a stir! Fathers, cousins, uncles, brothers all leaving to go to Franklin.

The next morning when the Indians came into town, what a sight met their eyes. Four hundred men in parade on the town square. They had assembled from Mapleton, Richmond, Smithfield, Wellsville, and elsewhere to quell any possible uprising. Whatever plan the Indians had in mind they quickly decided that they were good Indians and especially at peace with the Whites.

The assembled minute men could have annihilated the small force of Indians, but wanton killing of an Indian was looked upon nearly as badly as murder of a white. As a rule, the people were kind to the Indian tribes and the bad Indians were usually the outlaws from the various tribes. Although no effort was made to convert the Indians, they were treated with respect. There is no connection between this event and the Battle Creek Massacre as there were months between the two events.

Most of the minute men were equipped with old fashioned muzzle loading guns, while some of them had the new breach load type. They took great pride in their powder horns which they made of cow horns, hollowing out the pit in the center and making a hole in the small end of it for the powder to go through. They also kept them polished with great care.

The pioneers obtained much of the lead and other supplies which they had when Johnson’s army left to go into the Civil War. At this time the army left nearly $4,000,000 worth of supplies were in Utah which the saints gathered up. Samuel Adams and Harrison Thomas sat before the open hearth and molded their bullets while Orrin helped his mother make their candles out of tallow taken from their beef.

The bishops preached “United Order” so much that it was tried in several of the towns, Smithfield being one of them. The people who were chosen were baptized into it and put in so much money each. Samuel was one of those who joined. The United Order an a tannery in mutual benefit. The bark was stripped for the red pine trees by means of an implement called a spud and hauled in cords to the tannery where it was put into vats until all the strength had soaked out of it and then taken out. The hides were then put into this compound until they were perfectly soaked, then taken out and the hair scraped off. The hides were then pounded with heavy hammers very thoroughly until they became soft and pliable. These were used to make the shoes harnesses and other things that they used that were of leather.

Everyone was not allowed to join this United Order and even in the choice groups the seeds of discord and discontent were soon sewn, and as President Brigham Young said, “They are not ready for it,” so they had to abandon the plan.

Between Indian scares and grasshoppers, fights, Orrin went to school. The school house was a one-room log structure and poorly heated, so cold in the winter time that every little while the pupils would have to exercise to get warm. The teachers were supposed to be paid $2.00 per student in the produce of the land which usually amounted to about $35 and sometimes $40 a month. The people never paid the teachers with money. The recitations were all given out loud and what a noise it was! The smaller students in one back corner singing with monotonous rhythm their ABCs.

In the other corner the larger students were giving their compositions, naming the states and their capitals, and reciting other lessons. At the front of the room a reader was begin passed along the line and each one took a turn at reading out loud. Over this bedlam ruled the teacher with a ruler instead of scepter and with broad rimmed glasses in place of crown.

Orrin was sometimes a bad boy at school. At such times, the teachers made him stand up at the head of the class with one hand held high above his head, and woe unto him if he lowered his upraised hand or even moved his foot along the floor. The eagle eye of the teacher would be sure to see him and give him a good cuff. When he was especially bad, he would have to put his finger in a crack in the floor and hold it there until the teacher told him he could take it out.

The children were well drilled in spelling and had to know all of the words in their elementary spelling books before they got a chance to read. The school benches were made of rough logs, and the room was heated by an open fireplace and was very uncomfortable. The churches and school houses were the first buildings to be built in most of the new settlements.

Brigham Young was a man much admired by Orrin. When Orrin was a youth he would sit on the street with the other boys and clear all the large rocks from the road whenever he heard that Brigham Young was coming to town.

Orrin attended church regularly because everyone went and there was not place else to go. He went to hear the elders of the church talk at every opportunity. His siters had two dresses at one time, a Sunday dress and an everyday dress. The everyday dress was made from the Sunday dress of the year before. His sister’s petticoats were made by taking her old dresses and padding them with cotton batting, and sewing two of them together.

Orrin was married to Elizabeth White on the 15th of February, 1875 in the Salt Lake Endowment House. It took three days to make the trip from Smithfield to Salt Lake and four days to return. They remained in Salt Lake only one day. Mrs. Merrill who was an actress and played their home theatre learned her part in one of the plays on the trip to Salt Lake. The play was given the night that they arrived home.

Her wedding dress was made from ten yards of lawn material which cost about 75 cents a yard. The thread cost twenty five cents a spool. It was at this time that the people began to make use of the oxen that had been left in Salt Lake by Johnson’s Army.

Many supplies had to be hauled to Montana by team and wagon because they were opening up the mines there. Flour that could be bought for $10 a sack in Smithfield sold for $100 a sack in Butte, Montana. Many of the Merrill relatives made money by selling these supplies at that time.

Because of the lack of sugar and shortening, pastry was very scarce in the pioneer settlements, and was had only at birthday parties and other special occasions. The people made a crude molasses by boiling beets or carrots.

About this time, Orrin and his wife moved to Mapleton, Idaho, leaving Smithfield November 4, 1881. They lived in Mapleton about nineteen years. During this time, Orrin played an active part in the church, acting as a counselor and later as bishop of the ward.

While Orrin was living in Mapleton he very nearly escaped death. He and a companion were cutting some logs along the banks of the Cub River. The snow gave way with them and they found themselves sliding down the mountain under the snow. They slid about three fourths of a mile when they were suddenly stopped by a pile of snow from a former slide. When they crawled out of the snow, they found that they were at the edge of a high cliff just above the river, and had they gone any further they surely would have been killed.

In 1906, Orrin moved to Preston, Idaho where they made their home. Orrin contracted the building of one mile of the grade for the Utah Northern Railway as it was then called. They received eleven cents a yard for their work. This was poor pay, but the people were anxious to have the railroad come to town. While they were doing this work, they had to take their horses to Bear River to water them as the wells were so deep and so scarce that there was not enough water for them.

In conclusion, Orrin and his wife say that the modern generation is no worse than the older generation would have been if it had had the same experiences, and that they are trying to do right in their own way which is much faster than the old way. The word of wisdom was kept better than it is now because they never had the chance to break it that we have now. All in all, the world is growing better, not worse.

ADDENIS

Orrin has been a member of the church for seventy four years and has been active since he was baptized. He has been a home missionary, Sunday school superintendent, mutual officer, first and second counselor to the bishop, and a bishop. He has held all the offices of the priesthood and has gladly offered any service that he could. He has enjoyed every moment of his work in the church and is not sorry for anything he had done to help the church. He has served under thirteen bishops and been a ward teacher for fifty years. He has seen all of the presidents of the church from Brigham Young down, and here is a brief account of his opinion of them: Brigham Young was a leader and an organizer. John Taylor was a stern and stalwart leader. Wilford Woodruff was meek, humble, stalwart, and a leader of the common folk. Lorenzo Snow was a gentleman in every respect. Joseph F. Smith, a very fine man, was the lion. Always stuck up for his rights and was not afraid of anything or anybody as long as he was in the right. He was kind and affectionate to his people. Heber J. Grant is the businessman, a pusher, a good mixer, making friends wherever he goes. He is the lion of the people. All of the presidents were the best possible leader for the time. Children of Orrin Jackson Merrill and Elizabeth White Merrill: Orrin Preston – August 5, 1876; Elmer Samuel – March 12, 1878; Frank Thomas – February 2, 1880; Jess Elizabeth – September 11, 1882; Harrison Reuben – November 12, 1885; Ralph Douglas – April 12, 1888; Myrtle Elizabeth – November 5, 1891; Madison White – January 22, 1896; Margarette – January 22, 1896.

An interesting incident is recorded about P.L. Merrill, a close relative of Samuel who was a member of the Nauvoo Legion and one of Joseph Smith’s personal body guards. Joseph Smith was traveling and had his body guard with him. They stopped at a wayside in to eat dinner. While they were there a few drunks came down the road and on noting who the travelers were, began jeering and making fun of them. One of the drunks cursed and swore wildly and then said that he could throw any man among them. The prophet commanded Phy to throw the drunk but he whispered to the prophet that he didn’t think he could do it. The prophet then commanded him, in the name of the Lord to throw the man. He stepped out, picked the man up, and threw him over the fence. This same man was in the Mormon Battalion.